Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-08-04
HEREDITY.

the following able paper by G. f.
Witter, NJ. D., of this city. We repub-
lsh it not as an advertisement, but on
account of its worth to those who will
take the time to read it. We consider
it one of the Doctors most able papers
on that subject:
On reference to the tenth census OF
the United States we are confronted by
1870 there were 81, 422 insane persons
and 24,527 idiots while in 1880 there
were 91,997 of the former and
1886 of the latter, showing
the number of insane, more than dou-
BILE, and the number of idiots more than
trebled in the short space of ten years.
These statements serve to give a
summary notion Of the urgent need for
inquiry into causes leading to these
rapid race deteriorations, and the inn
portance of this inquiry is the more
marked when we realize the fact that
these figures represent burdens to be
born-drains upon the vitality of the
community and the nation. 1t is start
ling indeed to know that nearly one per
cent. of the entire population of the
United states is among the dependant
portion thereof
We cannot begin to soon or prosecute
too vigorously an inquiry into the cause
of the prevalence of these evils, which
are like a canker at the heart of all our
prosperity, nor can we seek with too
much assiduity the means of arresting
their growth. The subject is obscure,
but in the study of it we may almost be
said to have our finger upon the pulse
of the nation.
There is an ingrafted tendency in all
living organizations to reproduce them
selves. Like begets like" From
this it must follow, as the relation
between cause and effect, that the sub
-jects of unsounG organism and feeble
vital forces cannot propagate healthy
descendants. The same thing occurs,
but less obviously to common observa-
ton, in the mental and moral world.
An.unsound condition either Of body
or mind is very likely, nay, almost GER
tain to be perpetuated in the offspring
of such parents. If it be true that
healthy parents bring forth healthy
children, it appears to follow that an
unhealthy progeny argues Initiated
stock. Moreover, there is no rea-
son why peculiarities of individual
structure should not descend from gener-
alton to generation, as well as peculiari-
ties of individual organs; indeed,
REGULARITY of an entire organ presup-
poses peculiarly of its individual parts
The hereditary diathesis may undoubt-
eddy be transmitted from parent to
child, and yet remain in a quiescent
state perhaps for several generations,
the circumstances and conditions which
would tend to develop it into active
disease not occurring; and diseases
regarded as hereditary may be acquired
in the absence of any predisposition to
them, the conditions which develop an
hereditary disease originating it, and
when so originated a momentum is
acquired which is transmitted by in
heritance. There is not an organ or
part of the body in which peculiarities
of function or tissue are not frequently
traceable in the ascending or defending
line.
1t is generally admitted, I think, that
the mental as well as the bodily condi-
'tions caused by the good or i'll conduct
of individuals may be handed down to
their offspring, thus influencing them
for good or i'll, and as children may
inherit from grandparents, it is imposs-
ible to say where the end may be.
Every child inherits something from its
ancestors: it may not always be obsery-
able in childhood but develop in youth,
or be drawn out by the vicissitudes and
discipline of life. These are well-known
and admitted facts and have been for
years. Why then are they not more
acted upon and counteracted as mech
'anical laws are, and thus made useful?
People believe in physical resemblance
to, parents because they see them.
Next is needed belief in the heredita-
bility of morals, virtues, and vices
This influence was recognized by
Aristotle, and yet to this day little is
generally known about it, still less is it
acted upon or applied to the daily life
of mankind; its laws are less observed
and followed than those which result
from other scientific studies.
Hippocrates evidently entertained
strong opinions as to the Importance of
hereditary influences. In his essay on
the Sacred Disease" or what we call
Epilepsy, he says: "Its origin is heredi-
tary like that of other diseases. For if
phlegnatic be born of a phlegmatic
and a phthisical Of a phthisical, and one
having spleen disease of one other
having disease of the spleen, what is to
hinder it from happening that when the
father and mother are subject to this
disease, certain of their offspring should
be so affected also? The question
presents itself to us under two aspects
which we will consider as direct and
indirect Entertainments. The former
implies the conveyance of a definite
morbid faint from one generation to
another. Under the latter we under
stand the production of constitutional
peculiarities not traceable to actual dis
ease, but due to accidental circum-